Football

Kicker backs out of commitment to KU

By J-W Staff Reports

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Justin Castor, a kicker from Arvada, Col., has backed out of his commitment to play football next season at Kansas University, according to Rivals.com.

“This past week I received offers from Arizona State University and the University of Colorado,” Castor told BuffStampede.com Monday. “With everything going on at Kansas, I just wanted to re-open things and explore these new options since I had committed so early in the recruiting process.”

The departure of Castor, who stands 6-foot-5 and is a two-star recruit, leaves the Jayhawks with 13 known commitments in the Class of 2010.

Most programs don't offer scholarships to kickers. We have to get a kid that can put the ball in the endzone on kickoffs. Branstetter is a good kid and all, but we wouldn't know about his tackling proficiency if he could get a touchback.

kackley - That's not correct. Quinn Mecham, the #2 rated Juco QB in the country this year, was not a commit to us before Gill got here, now he is. There's been more progress than you think, give him some time.

Commits leave every year at this time, this doesn't mean much. What is hard is waiting to see who the new staff DOES bring in. Things will work out just fine, but usually there are more new commitments by now, a reflection on having a new staff that has to get its ducks all lined up.

Gill didn't announce his full staff until January 5 and you think he should have new recruits lined up to sign already? Yeah, he had a few guys on staff late in December, but that's not the ideal time to be out pounding doors.

With all of the fallout from the Mangino situation, we are fortunate that Gill has been able to keep most of the class intact. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks you will see players from Texas Tech and South Florida start reopening their recruitment. Maybe even some players from USC, or Washington (if Sarkisian takes the USC job) or Notre Dame and Cincinnati will be available.

Coach Gill's first task was to retain the recruits HE WANTED out of this class. Next was to set a coaching staff. Now that he has done those two things, he can round out his class. It's not like Mangino was a renowned recruiter. Gill kept the top half of the class intact. Now hopefully he fills this class out with some more top line athletes.

Hard to say. There are several uncommitted players in the Rivals 250 rankings (top 250 players). There are also lots of uncommitted players in the position rankings (several WR, DE, RB, OL, LB, CB, S, and ATH). We are still in the hunt for some of these guys, particularly guys from Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Mechum originally commited under Mangino, decommitted and then recommited. And yes a kicker is important. Our current kicker can't get the ball in the end zone and teams continued to start their offense on the 30 or 30+ yard lines.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who backs out of their commitment to KU now risks missing out on a terrific experience. Because of the coaching philosophy of Turner Gill and his staff, the kind of person he is, and the positive environment that he and his staff will create, KU is going to be a very special place to be if you are a football player. Nevertheless, I understand that Lawrence is not the right choice for everyone. Each player will need to do what's best for his future, and there are many factors that are in play. No need to disparage those who choose to play elsewhere. But, in the days to come, if I may repeat myself, KU is going to be a very special place to be if you are a football player.

kickers and punters play a huge role in how a game unfolds, they are very important. field position and the ability to score points through field goals and extra points can be the difference in winning or losing close games.

strength and conditioning coaches and a new kicking coach may be able to improve what they have at that position. but compitition is what is best.

i still believe that turner gill will have things going in the right direction, from the get go.

I'm surprised noone has made a mention of the DB from Texas that Gill got. His name is Ray Mitchell. He may only be a two star recruit but I do recall a certain two star defensive back out of texas who turned out to be an all american for us. Not trying to say that Mitchell will do the same but at least we have a good solid kid from Texas.

If we really need a kicker we would offer Carey Spear a scholarship (Has medium interest in KU). He's the 10th best kicker out of this years recruits and the kid appears to be pretty smart. He's got a 4.5 GPA and scored a 32 on his ACT.

We'll pull an OK class this year, but next years record and style of play will be a barometer of the future. I think KU and Turner Gill have a breakout year next year with our current players. The new staff has Nationwide HS coaching contacts in areas we havn't targeted recently. A good strong year will bring in the interest from quality players, especially if we can keep up the TV exposure.

We will fill out our class with good players at least on par with recent classes, especially if we hold serve with the current commitments. If Turner Gill turns out to bring KU to be a perpetual power, this years class will be special to him. Therefore they will be lucky to be a part of it.

When the Jayhawks announced they hired Reggie Mitchell it was known they might open recruiting options in places like Chicago and Detroit, among several others. The first sign of that is in place with Fabbians Ebbele. The lineman from the Windy City said he has lined up an official visit to Kansas. We have the latest thoughts from him after meeting the Kansas coaches.

The state of Alabama has never been a recent target area for the Kansas football program. It looks like that is quickly changing. Members of the Kansas staff have been in Alabama to recruit first team, all-state selection that has set a visit to Lawrence. We have the latest update on the two-way prospect and what he is saying about the Jayhawks.

January is going to be a busy month for Adrian Lee. College recruiters are lining to get one of the top uncommitted corners in Texas on a visit. Lee is stuarting to fill up his final weekends with big name schools and it looks like the Jayhawks may enter the picture. We had a chance to catch up Lee and get his thoughts on Kansas.

Kackley- All were doing is losing players? Gimme a real football player over a kicker, please...

BTW...the recruits above are a different class of athlete than was brought in with Mangino. I can't wait to have a fast, MOTIVATED, real team to cheer for!

thanks to all who are putting the little tidbits out for us to read. even if some of the info doesn't turn out correct or are not able to close the deals, its nice to know some direction in which the coaching staff is going.

now, as a poster i think it is our responsibility that when ever we are wrong we should own up to our mistakes. having said that, i was very critical of colt mccoy in a post late last week, over the next couple of days i learned things that showed me that i had probably put my foot in my mouth (not probably). to colt i am sorry, and if i ruffled anybody's feathers i appologize.

Mitchum- Yea, there seems to be more coaching movement this year than in the past couple..Hopefully HCTG can get a couple more 4-star anywhere, or some immediate help particularly at the D-Line, and LB position.

Nice call, Huskercarpenter. It takes a lot of class to admit you misjudged someone. I was pretty hard on you last week for that post - it looks to me like I may have misjudged you, too. I'll try to be less sarcastic from now on...

mikendal, the best way i can explain to you why you need to worry about a kicker/punter, is that you will not always be scoring touchdowns. if you look at nebr. season last year and take away alex henry their kicker/punter, they don't make the big12 championship and i'm really not sure they even go to a bowl game. a good kicker/punter is a huge weapon, and can make things easier for the offense and defense. field position is one of the most important aspects in a team being successful or not. just ask any football coach.

actorman.....huskercarpenter mentioned a pretty darn good kicker from NU, Alex Henery. The kid was a walk-on at Nebraska. If you don't believe me, go to the Husker website and you will find:

Before Nebraska (Burke HS)
Henery was one of the top walk-ons in Nebraska’s 2006 class. He earned Omaha World-Herald first-team All-Nebraska and first-team Lincoln Journal Star Super State honors as a punter. Henery averaged 41.4 yards per punt as a senior, and also connected on 6-of-10 field goals and 37-of-38 extra-point tries.

I'd say more than half of the programs in the country do not offer scholarships to kickers/punters. Nebraska has put a couple of punters in the NFL that were walk-ons over the years.

If I recall, Alonso Rojas left his first school and went back to Florida because nobody was offering scholarships--everybody wanted him to walk-on. KU offered and the rest is history.

They may walk-on for the 1st year if they have to but then they get a ride. As far as putting the ball in the endzone on the kickoff, most kickers out there could do that at any time. The special teams coaches usually like them to hang it up on like the one. with some hang time. This allows the kickoff team to get down and cover, hopefully inside the 20. The only time they kick out is when there is a threat that they are kicking to. They will also kick a pooch kick like Texas did to Bama rather than give a returner like Arenas a chance at running it back.